Iridocyclitis
Iridocyclitis means inflammation of both iris and ciliary body. There are many causes of it and one of these causes is herpes eye infection. It can occur in isolation or with other forms of herpetic keratitis. Inflammation of the iris will increase the permeability of iris blood vessels, leading to disruption in blood-ocular barrier.
This barrier will prevent blood cells and certain protein to pass from blood vessels to inside the eyes. When this barrier disrupted, blood cells and protein can be seen inside the eye, especially in the anterior chamber of the eye causing uveitis.
Also iris inflammation can cause occlusion of iris blood vessels with ischemia and infarction of iris tissue. This can appear as patchy iris atrophies with transillumination of the iris.
Inflammation of ciliary body can cause
1- Loss of accommodation.
2- Decrease in aqueous humor production.
3- Inflammation of trabecular meshwork and formation of membrane.
Although there is decrease in aqueous humor production, there is also outflow obstruction of aqueous humor. If the production exceeds the drainage of aqueous humor, the intraocular pressure will increase. This is characteristic of irido-cyclitis caused by herpes infection, in which there is combination of uveitis and high intraocular pressure.
Signs and Symptoms of Iridocyclitis
1- Red eye
2- Blurred vision
3- Photophobia or light sensitivity
4- Eye pain due to high intraocular pressure
5- Uveitis
6- Herpetic keratitis can be associated
Treatment of Iridocyclitis
Combination of Oral acyclovir and topical corticosteroid with regular follow up in eye clinic. Sometimes with high intraocular pressure, you eye doctor will prescribe anti-glaucoma eye drops to decrease intraocular pressure which sometimes can be very painful for the patients.
